Denture support device

ABSTRACT

A device for supporting dentures or the like for cleaning purposes including a support member having a seat-like abutment construction at one end, and a gripping member attached to the support member having a plurality of flexible projections extending outwardly therefrom adapted for supporting a denture thereon and coacting with the seat-like abutment construction for holding the denture against movement during cleaning thereof.

United States Patent [1 1 Griesmar Nov. 20, 1973 DENTURE SUPPORT DEVICE[76] Inventor: Jacques A. Griesmar, 531 8.0M.

Center Rd., Mayfield Village, Ohio 44143 [22] Filed: June 2, 1971 [21]Appl. No.: 149,223

[52] U.S. Cl. 115/268, 32/68 [51] Int. Cl A47g-29/08 [58] Field ofSearch .l 15/268, 167; 206/1,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Burford 248/350 248/3462,128,118 8/1938 2,612,653 10/1952 Labat FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS426,871 4/1935 Great Britain 15/268 137,223 9/1952 Sweden 206/1 RPrimary Examiner-Leon G. Machlin Attorney-Teare, Teare & Sammon [5 7ABSTRACT A device for supporting dentures or the like for cleaningpurposes including a support member having a seat-like abutmentconstruction at one end, and a gripping member attached to the supportmember having a plurality of flexible projections extending outwardlytherefrom adapted for supporting a denture thereon and coacting with theseat-like abutment construction for holding the denture against movementduring cleaning thereof.

9 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDHHVZU ms. 3; 772.731

F| INVENTOR. G 4 JACQUES A GRIESMAR M 72m, J

ATTORNEYS DENTURE SUPPORT DEVICE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Thisinvention relates to a device, and more particularly relates to animproved construction of a denture device which can be employed forsupporting and/or holding dentures so that they may be thoroughlycleaned and/or stored when not in use.

l-leretofore, it has been a problem to provide a reliable and sanitarymethod for cleaning and/or storing dentures. This is an especially acuteproblem because of the relatively fragile nature of the permanent resinmaterials from which dentures are generally fabricated. Accordingly,there has not been provided a satisfactory method for cleaning denturesso as to prevent damage or injury thereto while maintaining a sanitarycondition during cleaning thereof. One such method has been to provide arelatively complex cleaning device including a casing for mounting upperand lower dentures in conjunction with an articulated brush for cleaningthe same. With regard to a typical prior art device, reference may behad to US. Pat. No. 3,230,572.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A device for supporting dentures or the likecomprising a support member, a gripping member attached to said supportmember, said gripping member including a plurality of flexibleprojections extending outwardly from said gripping member adapted toreceive in supporting relation a denture thereon, and said supportmember including a seat-like abutment construction coacting with saidgripping member adapted for holding said denture against movement duringcleaning thereof. In one fonn, a base member is attached to said supportmember on the side opposite said gripping member to provide a supportfor said device.

From the foregoing and subsequent description taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, it will be seen thatthepresent inventionprovides a novel construction for a denture device which is of a simple,yet rugged construction and which is economically feasible to produceand maintain. The device is constructed and arranged so as to holdthe'denture firmly against movement so as to prevent dairi'age or injurythereto during the cleaning operation while maintaining the same in arelatively sanitarycondition. The device lends considerable flexibilityto the cleaning operation since the denture to be cleaned is supportedin a manner so as to be accessible from a plurality of positions withoutinterference from auxiliary and/or component parts. In addition, thedevice is of a lightweight construction which can be easily stored andwhich itself can be readily cleaned for repeated usage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a generally perspective viewof the denture device made in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view, on a reduced scale, of the denturedevice made in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation view looking generally from the right-handside of- FIG. 2; and

FIGM is an enlarged fragmentary section view taken along the line 4-- 4of FIG. 3. a

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring again to thedrawings, and to FIG. 1 thereof, there is illustrated the denturedevice, desig' nated generally at 2, for supporting dentures or the like(not shown) for purposes of cleaning and/or storing the same. In theform shown, the device 2 generally includes a base member 4, a supportmember 10 mounted on said base and a gripping member 28 disposed on saidsupport member 10 for mounting a denture thereon, as will hereinafter bemore fully described.

As shown, the base member 4 is of a relatively thin plate-likeconstruction which may be made of a flexible, washable material toprovide an adequate supporting surface for the device. Preferably, thebase member 4 is made from an elastomeric material, such as rubber orfrom a suitable plastic material, as desired. The base member 4 isgenerally of an oblate configuration, in top plan view, defined by acurved outer peripheral surface 6 which merges at opposed sides into agenerally planar rear surface 8. Moreover, the curved peripheral surface6 and the planar or rectilinear surface 8 conjointly provide a generallyhorseshoe-like configuration, in top plan view.

The supporting member 10 may be attached to the upper flat surface 7 ofthe base member 4 so as to be generally centrally disposed with respectthereto. The support member 10 may be fixedly attached to the basemember 4 by any suitable means, such as by means of an adhesive or bymolding techniques as known in the art. In the form shown, the supportmember 10 has a generally L-shaped configuration in side elevation (FIG.2) defined by a seat-like member 12 and an upstanding back member 14which extends generally perpendicular with respect to the general planeof the base member 4. The back member 14 is generally of the shape of arectangular prism defined by a flat rear surface 15, a flat frontsurface 17 and a flat upper surface 18, as best seen in FIG. 4. The seatmember 12 has an inclined upper surface 19 (FIG. 2) which extendsoutwardly and upwardly in direction away from the back member 14, andmerges with the front surface 17 in a rounded curvature or radius, as at16, so as to provide a trough-like construction at the juncturetherebetween so as to discharge fluid materials and the like in adirection from the front toward the rear of the device. Accordingly, bythis arrangement, the back member 14 provides an abutment and back-washarrangement against which the dentures or the like may be disposed forcleaning by manual brushing or the like.

As shown, the seat member I2 has a curved front peripheral surface 20which corresponds generally to the curved peripheral shape of thesurface 6 of the base member 4. As best seen in FIG. I, the seat member12 has a pair of oppositely disposed side walls 21 which merge with thecurved front surface 20 so as to define a pair of oppositely disposedshoulders, as at 22, which may be disposed slightly forward of thegeometric center of the base member 4. In the form shown, the side walls21 may extend generally parallel to one another or may taper toward oneanother in a direction toward the back member 14 so as to graduallymerge with the rear surface 15 thereof. In the invention, the supportingmember 10 is preferably made from a flexible material. Preferably, thematerial is a relatively low-density,

high-quality material, such as elastomeric or polymeric materials. Forexample, it has been found that foam rubber or sponge plastic, such asflexible urethane foams, produce satisfactory results. By thisarrangement, the supporting member provides a cushionlike constructionfor supporting the dentures, and which may be compressed uponapplication of force to the dentures during cleaning thereof. Thisprovides a high stability construction and enables the dentures to beadequately, but yieldably supported so as to provide access thereto frommultiple angles for optimum cleaning during cleaning, such as bybrushing or the like. Moreover, this material is of a cellularconstruction having the ability to absorb and hold fluids, such aswater, cleaning fluids or the like, to facilitate the cleaningoperation, yet which can be easily compressed for cleaning and/orrinsing of the device itself.

In the invention, the gripping member 28 is fixedly secured to the uppersurface 19 of the support member 10, such as by means of a suitableadhesive or molding technique as are known in the art. As shown, thegripping member has a generally plate-like body 30 of flat constructionfrom which extends a plurality of projections 32. In the embodimentillustrated, the projections 32 are of a pointed construction and aregenerally symmetrically spaced with respect to the member 30. Theprojections 32 are substantially of equal length so that the outerterminal ends thereof define a inclined plane extending generallyparallel to the upper surface 19 of the seat member 12. As shown, thegripping member has a curved front surface 33 (FIG. 2) which is in aform of a partial ellipse corresponding in configuration to the frontsurface of the support member 10. The rearward portion of the grippingmember is defined by a generally semi-circular surface 34 which mergeswith the front surface 33 to define shoulders, as at 31, which aredisposed in the general vertical plane of the corresponding shoulders 22provided in the seat member 12.

In the embodiment illustrated, the gripping member 28 and correspondingprojections 32 are preferably made of a flexible, high strength materialhaving good coefficient of friction characteristics for gripping andholding dentures in a relatively stationary position during cleaningthereof. Preferably, such member is made from rubber. By thisarrangement, the dentures may be supported in gripped relation on theprojections 32 and oriented for bearing engagement against the flexibleback wall 14 to provide a nesting coaction therewith. Moreover, thegripping member is flexible, but has greater rigidity than the supportmember 10 so that the latter may be compressed upon application ofpressure, such as a force applied to the dentures during cleaningthereof. This enables the dentures to be grippingly, yet yieldablysupported during the cleaning operation, such as by manual brushing orthe like, thereby to provide optimum accessiblity to the same whilebeing cleaned.

In the invention, the projections 32 may be of any shape, but arepreferably of a conical configuration having a height less than theheight of the back member 14. Similarly, the projections may be arrangedin any suitable pattern, but good results have been provided byarranging the projections in linear rows with each row being disposed instaggered or offset relation with respect to an adjacent row, as bestseen in FIG. 4.

In general, the device may be made from many different types of materialcorrelated for the desired purpose. For example, in the presentinvention, the support member 4 and the gripping member 28 may be madeof the same type of material, such as rubber, while the support member10 is made from a flexible material, such as foam rubber or urethanefoam. Accordingly, it is important that the gripping member havesufficient coefficient of friction and flexibility characteristics forholding the dentures while the support member incorporates flexiblitycharacteristics to enable the same to be compressed in a directiontoward the base member 4 in order to provide the optimum anguiarorientation of the dentures during cleaning thereof, as aforesaid.

I claim:

1. A device for supporting a denture or the like for cleaningcomprising,

a support member,

said support member includes an upper base surface and an upwardlyextending back wall projecting upwardly from one end of said upper basesurface defining a generally L-shaped configuration in side elevation,

a gripping member mounted on said upper base surface, said grippingmember including a generally flat body attached to said upper basesurface and having a plurality of projections projecting upwardly fromsaid body for engagement with said dentures when disposed on saidgripping member to prevent lateral shifting movement with respect tosaid device,

said projections disposed in generally symmetrical,

laterally-spaced relation with respect to one another and have a lengthwhich is less than the height of said back wall such that the denturescan be oriented in any position while in abutting engagement with saidback wall to support such during cleaning thereof,

said gripping member being made of an elastomeric material,

said support member being made of a flexible, polymeric material havinga cellular construction such that the dentures are yieldably supportedto provide access from multiple angles for optimum cleaning thereof andto enable absorption of fluids and compression of said support memberfor cleaning and/or rinsing of the device.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein said support memberincludes an upper base surface disposed at an angle with respect to saidback wall so that the support member defines a generally L-shapedconfiguration in side elevation.

3. A denture device in accordance with claim 1, wherein said supportmember and said gripping member are angularly disposed relative to saidseat-like abutment construction.

4. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein said support member ismade from a flexible, polymeric material, and wherein said grippingmember is made from an elastomeric material.

5. A device in accordance with claim 1, including a base member attachedto said support member on the side opposite said gripping member,

said base member having a greater peripheral surface area as compared tothe peripheral surface area of said support member.

6. A device for supporting a denture or the like, comprising a supportmember,

a gripping member attached to one side of said support member,

said gripping member includes a plurality of projections extendingoutwardly from said gripping member adapted to receive in supportingrelation a denture thereon,

said support member includes an upwardly extending back wall projectingabove and beyond the general plane of said gripping member forabuttingly engaging a denture when supported on said gripping member,

said projections are disposed in generally symmetrical, laterally-spacedrelation with respect to one another and have a length less than theheight of the said back wall such that said denture may be oriented inany direction and in any abutting position against the back wall duringcleaning of said denture, and

said support member includes a pair of tapered side walls disposed inconverging relation in a direction toward said back wall at one endthereof, and includes a curved front wall at the opposite end mergingwith said side walls between said ends thereof.

7. A device in accordance with claim 6, wherein said gripping member hasa curved front wall disposed generally complementary to the front wallof said support member, and the respective junctures of the curved frontwalls of said support and gripping members defining a pair of oppositelydisposed shoulder portions spaced laterally of said back wall.

8. A device in accordance with claim 1, wherein said upper base surfaceextends angularly, upwardly and outwardly in a direction away from saidback wall.

9. A device for supporting a denture or the like for 10 cleaning,comprising a yieldable, cellular support member,

said support member includes an upper base surface and an upwardlyextending back wall projecting upwardly from one end of said upper basesurface,

an elastomeric gripping member mounted on said upper base surface,

said gripping member including a generally flat body attached to saidupper base surface and having a plurality of projections projectingupwardly from said body for engagement with said denture when disposedon said gripping member to prevent latera] shifting movement withrespect to said device,

and

said projections disposed in laterally-spaced relation with respect toone another and having a length which is less than the height of saidback wall such that the denture can be oriented in any position while inabutting engagement with said back wall to support such during cleaningthereof.

1. A device for supporting a denture or the like for cleaningcomprising, a support member, said support member includes an upper basesurface and an upwardly extending back wall projecting upwardly from oneend of said upper base surface defining a generally L-shapedconfiguration in side elevation, a gripping member mounted on said upperbase surface, said gripping member including a generally flat bodyattached to said upper base surface and having a plurality ofprojections projecting upwardly from said body for engagement with saiddentures when disposed on said gripping member to prevent lateralshifting movement with respect to said device, said projections disposedin generally symmetrical, laterallyspaced relation with respect to oneanother and have a length which is less than the height of said backwall such that the dentures can be oriented in any position while inabutting engagement with said back wall to support such during cleaningthereof, said gripping member being made of an elastomeric material,said support member being made of a flexible, polymeric material havinga cellular construction such that the dentures are yieldably supportedto provide access from multiple angles for optimum cleaning thereof andto enable absorption of fluids and compression of said support memberfor cleaning and/or rinsing of the device.
 2. A device in accordancewith claim 1, wherein said support member includes an upper base surfacedisposed at an angle with respect to said back wall so that the supportmember defines a generally L-shaped configuration in side elevation. 3.A denture device in accordance with claim 1, wherein said support memberand said gripping member are angularly disposed relative to saidseat-like abutment construction.
 4. A device in accordance with claim 1,wherein said support member is made from a flexible, polymeric material,and wherein said gripping member is made from an elastomeric material.5. A device in accordance with claim 1, including a base member attachedto said support member on the side opposite said gripping member, saidbase member having a greater peripheral surface area as compared to theperipheral surface area of said support member.
 6. A device forsupporting a denture or the like, comprising a support member, agripping member attached to one side of said support member, saidgripping member includes a plurality of projections extending outwardlyfrom said gripping member adapted to receive in supporting relation adenture thereon, said support member includes an upwardly extending backwall projecting above and beyond the general plane of said grippingmember for abuttingly engaging a denture when supported on said grippingmember, said projections are disposed in generally symmetrical,laterally-spaced relation with respect to one another and have a lengthless than the height of the said back wall such that said denture may beoriented in any direction and in any abutting position against the backwall during cleaning of said denture, and said support member includes apair of tapered side walls disposed in converging relation in adirection toward said back wall at one end thereof, and includes acurved front wall at the opposite end merging with said side wallsbetween said ends thereof.
 7. A device in accordance with claim 6,wherein said gripping member has a curved front wall disposed generallycomplementary to the front wall of said support member, and therespective junctures of the curved front walls of said support andgripping members defining a pair of oppositely disposed shoulderportions spaced laterally of said back wall.
 8. A device in accordancewith claim 1, wherein said upper base surface extends angularly,upwardly and outwardly in a direction away from said back wall.
 9. Adevice for supporting a denture or the like for cleaning, comprising ayieldable, cellular support member, said support member includes anupper base surface and an upwardly extending back wall projectingupwardly from one end of said upper base surface, an elastomericgripping member mounted on said upper base surface, said gripping memberincluding a generally flat body attached to said upper base surface andhaving a plurality of projections prOjecting upwardly from said body forengagement with said denture when disposed on said gripping member toprevent lateral shifting movement with respect to said device, and saidprojections disposed in laterally-spaced relation with respect to oneanother and having a length which is less than the height of said backwall such that the denture can be oriented in any position while inabutting engagement with said back wall to support such during cleaningthereof.